This is a small experiment in the blogosphere. "If you have no interest in what it's like to grow old, what follows is not for you. However, if it's going to happen to you, and the outcome is ultimately going to be negative, then finding a way to make the process as bearable, even as enjoyable as possible, might be worth a little attention."—from John Jerome's On Turning Sixty-Five

04 September 2011

Great Day In Billings

In the early part of the cool at last morning on this lovely Saturday in early September there is a splendid Farmers' Market in downtown Billings. Good corn, nice egg rolls and a really nice peach pie, though we didn't know that for sure until we had sampled it at home for lunch. Some art galleries are open too.

Our corn guy from Hardin says this is his last day at the Farmers' Market, reminding us that all good things must come to an end, some day, probably all bad things too, now that I think about it.

There are signs everywhere, see left, reminding us that some of our 11-12 year old boys are certified heroes, winning the state Little League baseball crown, then going to San Bernardino CA to take the regional and wonder of wonders, reaching the final game of the National Tournament at the World Series before losing to Huntington Beach CA.

Then, about mid-day we are off to Metra Park which is chock-full of really fine old cars, lots of parts for older cars, and a lot of people, old and young who like to look at well-cared for cars, especially those that remind them of their childhood. I saw a 1939 Plymouth, a car I drove in the middle 50s. Oops, busted for driving without a license. Yes, grandsons, if you were a farmer or small businessman, your Dad would have you driving to deliver this and that. The '40 Chev to the right was probably rescued from some junkyard to be restored. It really was a mess.

Later in the afternoon we drive down 27th to Dehler Park. The usual parking lots are full and we see people lining up on 27th St and 9th Ave, in the Park and around it.

The parade wound its way up from the South Side with fire sirens and horns blaring and all the boys and everybody else waving and cheering as they approach Dehler Park.

Even some patients from Billings Deaconness Hospital are watching from their windows.

There are probably close to five thousand people to tell our returning young heroes from Big Sky Little League, fresh from their games at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport PA that they were and are great, that they represented us well: from the governor who gave the best short and sweet speech of his life, driving from Helena just to make a 45 second speech honoring the courage of our Big Sky All-Stars who were willing to stand at home plate and swing away at fast moving hard balls thrown surprisingly close to them; and from the mayor of Billings, all the families and friends, the fire and police departments, lots of good fireworks and a really good turnout of just ordinary folks filling all the seats and crowding the concrete concourse with standing room only cheerleaders of all ages.

The boys were introduced individually with a review of what they had done over the past month or so. Then they had fireworks too. A great day for all of Montanans, especially from Billings, the Magic City.

Downtown Billings in the SummerTime

Downtown Phoenix

Good Cheese Here

TAKE TIME FOR PARADISE

Dehler Park, Billings MT, July 2008 This is what Bart Giamatti recommends for good mental health.

Me and Joan

Early elderly and middle middle age: We May Know Something You Don't

Mrs America

Fortunately these girls had a good-looking mother

Rimrocks @ Billings MT

“In beholding old stones we may feel our anxieties about our achievements–and lack of them–slacken . . . Vast landscapes [and seascapes] can have an anxiety–reducing effect similar to ruins, for they are the representatives of infinite space, as ruins are the representatives of infinite time, against which our weak, short-lived bodies seem no less inconsequential than those of moths or spiders.”—Alain de Botton in Status Anxiety

Easter Sunday at St Patrick's Co-Cathedral

12 April 2009

Pleasant Hillside at Hustisford, AKA The Grassy Knoll for you conspiracy buffs

A Lot of Muellers Are Buried Here

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About Us

Blessed with 50 years together and still counting, 4 kids, and 5 grandboys & also counting; and innumerable ancestors, Lutherans, Orthodox, Catholics, and pagans of course: we are grateful for all and everything.
This blog is a kind of slow-motion resource for those who must eventually write our obituaries or give our eulogies, or just wonder "What the heck were they up to?"
kmueller40@mac.com

Quotes of Note

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.—Jorge Luis Borges

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. - Douglas Adams

. . . . ever since Jesus insisted that it’s easier for a camel to squeeze through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, we’ve been frantically trying to build bigger needles and breed smaller camels!—G K Chesterton

When the ablest men turn into cowards, the average men turn into brutes.Ayn Rand.

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them."—Jane Austen

"Unos dicen lo que saben y otros saben lo que dicen"—Spanish proverb

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. —Fyodor Dostevsky

Freedom is not simply the right of intellectuals to circulate their merchandise. It is, above all, the right of ordinary people to find elbow room for themselves and a refuge from the rampaging presumptions of their “betters.”—Thomas Sowell in Knowledge and Decisions

"When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting."Saint Jerome

"In the Beginning there was nothing, which exploded"—Terry Pratchet

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." - Albert Einstein

"Anyone who says that man is totally depraved can't be all bad."—an unknown Calvin college professor according to Michael Novak

"Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good."—Thomas Sowell

"The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness." —Fyodor Dostevsky

"You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Odd"—Flannery O-Connor

"Dancing is a contact sport, football is a collision sport."—Vince Lombardi

"You should not look a gift universe in the mouth."—GK Chesterton

"Nor should you look a gift university in the mouth."—Russ Mueller, my brother, on viewing Ave Maria University near Naples/Fort Myers Florida

“Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on ‘income distribution,’ the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.”-Thomas Sowell

Do not do this in a half-fast way."—Joan McInnes, nee Mueller

“In beholding old stones we may feel our anxieties about our achievements–and lack of them–slacken . . . Vast landscapes [and seascapes] can have an anxiety–reducing effect similar to ruins, for they are the representatives of infinite space, as ruins are the representatives of infinite time, against which our weak, short-lived bodies seem no less inconsequential than those of moths or spiders.”—Alain de Botton in StatusAnxietyall that human hearts endure / That part which laws or kings

"Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine."—St Thomas Aquinas

"As no two faces, so no two cases are alike in all respects."—Sir William Osler

"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it."— H.L. Mencken

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been."—Wayne Gretzky

"Progress might have been alright once, but it has gone on too long. "—Ogden Nash